Animated booklet toy



Dec-30, 1952 N. J. GIBELLI 2,623,325

' ANIMATED BOOKLET TOY Filed Sept. 9, 1950 z SHEETSSHEET 1 a k 3 "3 k v .9 1 I fill jfliw II" N if f - INVENTOR.

NICOLAS JUA N GIBELLI AT TOR/YE Y Dec. 30, 1952 N. J. GIBELLI ANIMATED BOOKLET TOY 2 SI-IEETST-SHEET 2 Filed Sept. 9, 1950 E 1 Aw m-% Nm/ J VS mm/ AT TORNE Y Patented Dec. 30, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ANIMATED BOOKLET TOY Nicolas Juan Gibelli, Buenos Aires, Argentina Application September 9, 1950, Serial No. 183,940 In Argentina February 11, 1950 1 Claim.

This invention relates to an animated image foldable paper sheet book toy.

By means of this invention it is possible to obtain books and other toys of the same type, wherein one or more animated or movable images, in combination with complementary fixed images will form a picture representative of a given scene in which both the movable or partly movable images and the fixed images are located on different planes. A more real appearance is thus obtained due to the relief effect produced by the combined movable and fixed images arranged on different planes.

It is believed that the improvements of this invention constitute an advance in the art, since heretofore it has been possible to obtain books or the like containing animated pictures arranged on a single plane, or else in two or more planes, but in this case they are not movable. Thus, a combination of these two types of toys, generally used in illustrating childrens stories, will be considerably more interesting as a result of the more real appearance thereof.

The invention comprises mainly a book or the like including a supporting body constituted by two plane sections arranged for holding so as to form a dihedral angle; one or more fixed ima es formed by cuts in one of said two plane sections spaced from one another, said fixed images being provided with round open ngs traversed by movable members supplementing the ima es by the proiecting front ortion thereof corresponding to the front of the toy, and connected to a foldable sli ing actuating member connected to the rear face.

In order that the invention may be more clearly understood and readily carried out. a preferred embodiment thereof has been illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a part sectional general view of the front face of the toy.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the toy shown in Fig. 1 along line 2-2 thereof,

Fig. 3 is a front detail of one of the parts of the assembly shown in Fig. 1; and

Fig. 4 is a schematic view of Fig. 2 in folded position.

The same reference characters are used to indicate like or corresponding parts or elements throughout the drawings.

As shown in the drawings, the invention is in the form of a book having generally two flat sections a and a foldably connected to each 2 other at the folding line I. Front and rear bristol board sheets 2 and 3 are joined together by means of small strips 4, and when folded together along line I, provide the two book-like sections a and a. g

The sections of the front sheet 2 are formed with a series of cuts 5 so as to form separate relief images b, c and d, representing an animal holding a hammer, a working table and a further animal also holding a tool, respectively. Since the table 0 is formed only by side cuts and comprises a part of section a and a portion of section a, upon folding the two sections in the manner shown in Fig. 4 it will remain horizontally on a plane parallel to the section. a; portion 5 forming the table leg will be vertically disposed with respect to section a. Inasmuch as the two images representing the animals are joined to the horizontal section a, they will be also vertically disposed with respect to the latter, as shown more clearly in Fig. 4.

Actually, the fixed images such as the working table 0 are formed in their entirety by means of said cuts 5, whereas the movable images such as those designated at b and d are formed partly by means of such cuts, using zones of the front sheet 2, and partly by additional pieces made with other pieces of bristol board or even using pieces completely separated from the sheet 2. Thus, body 1 and left arm 8 of the animal 1) which are fixed, are formed directly by cutting sheet 2, whereas head and cap 9 and right arm In which are movable, are constituted by independent pieces.

For the purpose of associating the fixed parts with the movable parts, the fixed parts are provided with rounded holes II engaged by connecting arms 12 having at one of the ends thereof the respective portions of the movable figures or images. Said arms I2, which are formed by narrow bristol board strips are capable of moving freely in said rounded holes, so as to cause the movement of the images associated therewith. The arms l2 remain concealed from the front sheet 2 of the book. see Figs. 1 and 3.

At the back of sheet 2, between the latter and the sheet 3. said arms 12 are connected with hand actuating means which is also located between the sheets 2 and 3. The hand actuating means may be of any suitable type, depending mainly on the requirements to be met by the construction of the books or the like and also by the construction, quantity and arrangement of the movable parts of the images. In the embodiment illustrated, the actuating means is constituted by a control member e formed mainly by a sheet also made of bristol board and extending to both sections a and a, as shown particularly in Figs. 1, 2 and 4. This member e provides a short hand actuating arm l3 extending outwardly of section a through a slot 14 formed in the front sheet 2. The main portion of member e, the general shape of which is shown in Figs. l and '3, will in practice form a right angle when the book is semi-folded to a similar angle, and inasmuch as it is held with a certain degree of freedom between the sheets 2 and 3, it is capable of sliding between said sheets which will thus act as a guide therefor. When the spacing of the images from the front sheet 2 allow it, the member e provides separate parts for connection with the aforesaid connecting arms l2. With regard to the image b, the member e provides a support l5 having a horizontal slot It in which the lower end of arm i2 is housed;

.tFor operating theconnecting arm l2 correspon'dingto 'the 'image'of'animal d, a support .l'lisalso fcrmed'by suitablecuts in the sheet body of member e, which is shown unfolded in" Fig. 1 and provides a slot' is in which the lower 'free end of arm [2 is inserted. This support system is preferably used for moving images or parts of images located ata considerable distance from one of the sections a. or a as in the embodimentillustrated.

It will be seen from the above that the operation of the-combination as described above is simple and sure. By the rectilinear hand operation of member a bymeans of the outer arm 13 thereof as indicated by the arrows in Figs. 1 and 3, the member a will be moved from left to right and vice-versa, said movement being accompanied by thatof'the supports I5 and I7. The rectilinear displacement of the supports I5 and I1 will cause, by 'combinationwith the action of thecorrespon'ding roundedholes ll in which the connecting arms [2 arealso inserted, the free 'angular movement of said arms, which is trans- 'lated into a corresponding movement of the visible parts of the images, which, as mentioned above, are connected to the arms 12 at the end opposite that at which they are connected with their respective supports.

It should be understood that in carrying out this invention, many changes, modifications and/or alterations will occur to those skilled in the art, without departing from the scope of the invention as clearly set forth in the appended claim.

I claim:

An animated image toy comprising front and rear parallel paper sheets connected together at opposite ends and foldable together at the middle thereof, a fixed figure struck from the front sheet and extending to the opposite side of the fold line but being connected to the front face sheet below the fold line and spaced therefrom whereby to extend vertically upon the sheets being folded, said fixed part having a pivot opening therein, a movable part having an operating arm extending through'the pivot opening and depending therebelow, a slide operating member, siidable between the two sheets and having a handle portion accessibleto the exterior'of the front face sheet, said operating member having an inwardly struck portion and providing upon the sheets being folded, avertical part spaced from the fold line and a horizontal part having a slot opening therein, said member operating'on the movable part projecting through the slot opening of the struck portion of the operating member whereby'as the'operating member is moved by its handle,'the'movable part will be operated and will be retained with the fixed part ata considerable distance from the fold line.

NICOLAS JUAN GIBELLI.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in-the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,429,335 Wehr- Oct. 21, 1947 2,544,783 Freedman Mar. 13,1951 

